


It Was Only a Kiss (it was only a kiss)

by ShootingtheMoon



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Other, Pre-Slash, Somewhat, The ending slightly reimagined, but it's not incredibly graphic, some mentions of cannibalism, they're in love goddamnit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 07:42:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShootingtheMoon/pseuds/ShootingtheMoon
Summary: "Cut the bullshit. What really made you change your mind?"Something ignites near his sternum, a warmth that spreads right down to his fingertips. Fondness, heavy and sweet, like molasses, pools in the spaces between his ribs. And devotion, so fierce it knocks the air right out of his lungs.Venom forms around him slowly, and it’s more an embrace than anything else.“You.” Venom says this aloud, but it feels as bone-deep and all-encompassing as it does when it’s inside his head.  “You did, Eddie.”***Or, alternatively, "It started out with a kiss, how'd it end up like this?"





	It Was Only a Kiss (it was only a kiss)

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Venom (2018) two times in a row last night and then this happened.  
> The ending in the movie was already so romantic but I wanted to dive into how Venom and Eddie really felt, plus there were some gaps at the end I wanted to fill in, like how did Venom not die? How did they rebuild mass after almost all of it was burned up in the explosion? (Fair warning, you may not like the answers to those particular questions. I'm not even sure if I do.)
> 
> Oh, and also, no one beta-ed this.

    Eddie will tell himself later that he knew it was Anne underneath Venom. And that  _ that’s _ why he lets the kiss happen, why he moans into the familiarity of it, runs his hands over smooth, inky flesh and eagerly opens his throat to the intrusion of Venom’s tongue plunging impossibly deep. Really, this feels nothing like kissing Anne. And if he’s being honest, when he noticed Venom silently picking off the guards and realized that they had come to  _ save _ him, well, he couldn’t have cared less, who was underneath.

    All too soon, the kiss is over. But Eddie can’t bring himself to be disappointed, sighing as he feels Venom sink back into his skin. “Oh god.” He becomes aware of Anne standing in front of him, eyes filled with horror. “I just ate that guy’s head!”

    Yeah, that’s a problem they’ll have to deal with later.

    At the moment, Eddie is preoccupied with Venom shifting around inside him, fretting over his injuries- a split lip, a bruised rib- and fixing them as they go. Their thoughts are a litany of apologies-  **sorry I was late, sorry I let them hurt you, sorry, Eddie.**

    Eddie shakes his head, smiling slightly.  _ It’s alright, you’re here now.  _

    **Now. Yes.**

    **Forever.**

 

***

 

    “Cut the bullshit. What really made you change your mind?”

    Not that he doesn’t appreciate it. For as pissed off he was when Dan told him Venom was slowly killing him, he can’t deny the feeling of pure relief, of exhilarating  _ joy  _ at being reunited with the symbiote. It sucked to be all alone in his holding cell at the Life Foundation, to feel so  _ powerless. _ He hadn’t even had Venom for that long, but he’d gotten used to having their help at moments like that. He missed being invulnerable. Hell, he even missed the stupid parasite’s voice in his head, making snide comments that somehow eased his anxiety in stressful situations. Maybe he just missed  _ Venom _ . 

    He doesn’t have to say it. Venom can feel the wordless admission as clearly as they would have heard it. Something ignites near his sternum, a warmth that spreads right down to his fingertips. Fondness, heavy and sweet, like molasses, pools in the spaces between his ribs. And devotion, so fierce it knocks the air right out of his lungs.

    Venom forms around him slowly, and it’s more an embrace than anything else. 

    “ **You.** ” Venom says this aloud, but it feels as bone-deep and all-encompassing as it does when it’s inside his head.  “ **You did, Eddie.** ”

 

***

 

    Eddie’s only thought is  _ Venom, got to get back to Venom. _ It’s only been a minute but he feels incomplete, empty, like there’s a jagged hole cut out of his chest.

    The ache of it is so acute that it takes him a second to register the change to a piercing pain, white hot, and suddenly he can’t breathe in a more literal sense. He falls to his knees and looks down and oh- there’s one of Riots wicked blades, sticking straight through his heart.

_     I’m gonna die. _

    **You are** ** _not_** **going to die.** Eddie recalls Venom’s harsh promise during their motorcycle chase, though the voice sounds thinner in his memory.

_     I’m sorry. _

    He barely feels Riot lift him up. Through his blurring vision, he watches as they peer into his eyes, like they’re looking for something. Whatever it is, they must not find it.

    They toss him to the ground and Eddie can hear a squelch as the blade shifts inside him. He tries to gasp, but no air comes in.

    Riot chuckles. “You,” they sneer, “are  _ nothing _ .”

    And as Eddie drifts away, he finds he has to agree with them.

 

***

 

    It’s almost like a caress, Venom stitching him back together. He can feel their fear, their guilt, their  _ rage _ . And above it all, an overwhelming sense of possessiveness. Eddie relaxes gratefully once Venom envelops him, and is suddenly struck with a memory of all those months ago, at dinner with Anne, when he told her that she was his home. He’d thought he’d meant it. But here, now, the way he feels with Venom (safe, right,  _ whole _ )- he thinks he might begin to understand what that means.

 

    **Oh Eddie, my Eddie... You are** ** _everything._**

 

***

 

He only gets a second of smug satisfaction at Carlton Drake going up in flames before he remembers other things that can burn.

_ Venom! _

__ Everything is bright and hot and Eddie is falling, higher up than ever before, but he can’t find fear for anything other than his symbiote melting off his skin.

**Goodbye, Eddie** **_._ **

“Venom? What are you  _ doing _ ?” They start to form above him, pouring out until only one point of contact remains, wrapped tightly around his heart. 

“Venom! No!” Eddie watches as they unfurl themselves into a makeshift parachute that starts to slow his fall before it, too, catches fire that spreads rapidly down the strings holding Venom to him. It is a second away from reaching his chest when he crashes into the ocean.

A second of shock, then Eddie pushes to the surface, gasping and choking while he treads water. He expects to feel that now horribly familiar hollowness, but to his immense relief something thrums faintly next to his rapidly beating heart. That brave, wonderful  _ idiot _ . 

“Don’t worry,” he says, kicking to shore. “I’ve got us.”

 

***

 

He’s desperately hungry, which isn’t new, but instead of being a wild, frenzied thing, now it just  _ aches _ . Stumbling towards the building, he passes by a group of guards, no doubt cut down by Riot on their way to the rocket. He finds himself stopping and Venom flashes him a second of a memory- teeth closing around someone’s neck. Eddie’s stomach growls.

“Aw, hell.” After collapsing to the ground, he drags himself over to one of the corpses. He must not be entirely in charge anymore because he feels strangely detached as he cracks open a skull and reaches inside. He supposes he should feel disgusted, but mostly he’s just so, so tired. 

**Sorry.** It’s faint, a whisper of what’s normally a rumble.  **Don’t look.**

And so he lets himself drift away for awhile, trying not to think about what’s happening, instead choosing to focus on the miracle of getting to come out of this not only alive, but truly  _ intact _ . 

Some time later (Eddie’s not sure  _ how _ long, exactly) he comes back to awareness and finds that Venom has fully materialized around him. Odd, how much less weird it is when it’s  _ Venom’s  _ teeth crunching down on bone. They swallow and turn away from the now mangled pile of corpses (just don’t think about it, Eddie), feeling much stronger now. Venom remerges, a few stray tendrils wiping something wet and warm (don’t  _ think _ ) from Eddie’s mouth before they slip away with the others.  

He lets out a shaky breath. “Venom?”

**Here. Yes?**

A few tears spring loose from the corners of Eddie’s eyes as he laughs incredulously. “Don’t you ever,  _ ever _ , do that to me again, okay? I can’t-” The words catch in his throat, choking down a sob. “I don’t want to lose you.” 

_     Too _ , he thinks.  _ I don’t want to lose you, too.  _ Eddie has lost a lot of things over the past year- his career, his fiance, his reputation- but nothing could ever match the grief that consumed him for the brief moment he thought he’d lost Venom. All of a sudden he starts weeping, ugly, snotty  _ crying _ , and he sways a bit before his knees buckle.

    Venom doesn’t let him fall. They carry him over to a tree and lean him against it, wrapping themselves around his upper body like a straight jacket, or a sweater, or a hug. They wind between his fingers and Eddie holds on with a white-knuckled grip, shuddering as Venom squeezes him tighter, which somehow still lessens the pressure in his chest. Some tendrils brush the tears from his cheeks as he takes deep, gasping breaths in an attempt to calm down.

    After a few minutes Venom loosens their grip, but they stay corporeal, just holding him. The tendrils on his cheeks start to pull away so Eddie pushes the side of his face into them and they stop, moving to cradle his head. Eddie sighs contentedly and closes his eyes. 

    **Had to save you. Too important. Special. Didn’t want to leave. Never going to leave you again, my Eddie.**

    “Haven’t you said that before?” he murmurs. 

    Venom ripples with guilt.  **The danger has passed. Riot is dead. We will be together now.**

    “Is that a promise?” His words slur and he yawns, exhaustion finally taking hold. Venom starts to cover him completely, probably deciding it best that they take the wheel for awhile.

    **Promise, Eddie.**

    **Forever.**

**Author's Note:**

> IT STARTED OUT WITH A KISS, HOW'D IT END UP LIKE THIS???  
> Sometimes I empathize with God because I, too, look down in horror at what I've created.  
> I'm sorry for the ickiness towards the end there but literally I had no control over that. It was just the next logical place for the plot to go and now I kind of understand why they cut past it in the movie.


End file.
